A Candle Blown out
by heartofdixon
Summary: You can't help the way people think, the way they survive. you can only hope that they are strong enough to remember who they really are.
1. Flashbacks

**Walking dead isn't mine, if it was, daryl would never have a shirt on. I also haven't written anything in a long time. Sorry it kind of drags on. I'm building suspense? **

**Enjoy.**

_***flashback***_

_The bar was cheap, full of drunks and hillbillies, but what else would be expected when you are in the only bar of a small rundown town in the middle of nowhere Georgia. "One bourbon, one scotch, one beer" was coming out of juke box loud, but the people were even louder. There were two bartenders on duty this night, which wasn't nearly enough considering it was a Friday night, but the costumers usually show up drunk. Animal heads were mounted on the walls, along with antlers framing pictures of special moments that have happened, new articles, even mug shots of close friends and family of the bar owners. Christmas lights were wrapped around the bar, not because it was Christmas, but because it gave the bar a bit more…light. _

_This was the normal hangout spot of the Dixon brothers. If one needed the other and they didn't respond to their own personal animal call in the woods, they were most likely at the old dive bar in town scamming some dumb bastard out of money. That's what the eldest Merle Dixon did best at least. There was only one thing on Merles mind, and that was how whatever situation he was in at the moment could benefit him. To be honest if Merle Dixon ever came up to you with a bet or a deal, chances were you weren't going to win, he would be you with shady tricks, or he would beat you by actually beating you. He wasn't a very good sport when it came to losing, Merle losing usually ended in broken pool sticks and black eyes._

_Daryl Dixon on the other hand was smart. Not school smart, but the things he knew could really help someone out of a very dangerous situation. He was quick, stealthy, and observant. Daryl could spot a deer from 2 miles away, and he could tell you which way that deer was headed an hour after it'd been there. He had the best hunting skills in his town, probably in Georgia, not many people knew that though because Daryl wasn't the type of person to brag about his skills. He was a quiet type, didn't really care for other people, let alone them knowing anything about him. He also lingered in the shadow of his older brother, Merle had a reputation around town, and it wasn't a good one. Daryl and Merle were both considered criminals. This wasn't a complete lie. Sure Daryl was able to hotwire cars, and was able to sneak into houses undetected; he didn't feel like he was a criminal. Survival of the fittest, that's how he thought. The things he did because he felt that they would help him survive. Most people wouldn't consider stealing 6packs of beer every once and a while surviving though, which is where the criminal part came in._

_Daryl and Merle were sitting at their usual four person table towards the back of the bar. This was a dark little corner where the music wasn't blowing your ear drums out of your head, and the people were gathered towards the bar counters, ordering shots after shots. Tonight was a little bit different then their usual Friday night. Tonight was the night that the youngest Dixon, Riley, was coming to join them. There was a 10 year difference between Riley and Daryl. Shortly after Daryl and Merles mom died in the house fire, their father got a bartender at a strip club pregnant. Surprisingly they were on and off until Riley was 14, when her mother was sent to prison for selling narcotics to the pervs at the strip club. The only good thing to come out of that was that Riley was sent to her grandparents on her mom's side, who were still trashy, but decent people._

_Riley was now 22. Her birthday only days before this night, and it has been 4 years since she has seen her brothers. Riley is an odd girl. She is outrageous, spontaneous, and she does not give a fuck about anything. She has traits from both of her brothers, who she looked up to, but she also had a big heart, no matter how hollow she appeared to be. She was short, about 5' 5'', and had long wavy hair, which was a dark red like her mothers. Her style was plain as well, usually a pair of short shorts or ripped up jeans and a tank top. Her personality made up for everything she lacked in style._

_The time was about 9:45pm, Merle had just gotten up to grab 2 pitchers of beer. Daryl sat with his back towards the wall, twirling a pocket knife on the table, and watching the already drunk idiots make a bigger fool out of themselves. _

"_There we go, now why don' cha make yerself useful there brother and pour yourself a beer, can ya do that without me holdin' yer hand? Haha" merle chuckled as he took a sip of his beer and gazed around the bar, most likely looking for a drunk girl to take advantage of._

"_shit I could pour a beer better than yer ugly ass any day, just like I could hunt a buck better then yer ass too" daryl snapped back, not paying attention to what merle had to say, but still feeling the need to defend himself._

"_pretty sure I'm the one who taught you everthing you know darlina. Hell you would be lost or dead without me." _

"_The fu-" before Daryl could finish his sentence Merle interrupted by raising his glass_

"_ay well look who it is, little baby riley all grown up" Merle greeted his sister by standing up and giving her a hug, as did daryl. "you ready t' drink with the big kids now?"_

"_Merle you already know I could drink you under the table, remember what happened the last time you underestimated me?" She laughed as she took her leather jacket off and poured herself a beer._

Daryl snapped out of his trance, _day dreaming again. _He thought as he realized he was just staring off into space. _Why did I think of that of all things? _He sighed, shaking the thought out of his mind, he quickly looked around the prison from the watch tower he was using as his guard post. He knew that thinking of the past did no good for anyone, nor did talking about it.


	2. There She Lays

**Hopefully everyone is able to recognize what is really from the walking dead and what is not. There may be spoilers for those who are not caught up with the show. **

**Enjoy :]**

There wasn't much left of the prison. Most of the people of Woodbury had died due to a horrible sickness that spread quickly throughout the prison. People were starting to get angry, deranged from the lack of fresh air and sunlight. Some even began attacking others, beating them till they were no longer breathing, spreading the disease even faster. The fences surrounding the prison were coming down, barely being held up by old wooden posts. Food and medicine were going quickly, and they needed all the strong and healthy people they could away from the sick, so runs to nearby towns could be made in better time. Only thing was, there weren't that many strong and healthy people left. Rick never went on runs anymore, he stayed back to keep his sanity, for the sake of him and his children. Beth was kind enough to stay with Judith, keeping her away from the germs and deadly cough of those who fell ill. The people from Woodbury who still had their health were too scared to go out into the world of walkers, and made their place inside the prison doing things to help out within the walls of safety.

It was a calm, sunny day. A light breeze blew through the trees that surrounded the decaying sanctuary of those who were still struggling to survive. Carl was in the garden, taking over ricks duties as he tried to figure out a way to cure people of their illness. Maggie resided in the watch tower, standing guard and thinking of nothing but her darling Glenn, who had unfortunately come down with the sickness spreading. Hershel was with those who were ill, not because he was ill himself, but he was sacrificing his health to make sure those who were really sick were still getting care. A run was desperately needed for more aspirin and bandages. Seeing as Rick was going to stay behind to make sure everything at the prison was going okay this left Daryl, Michonne, and Ty to take the risk of finding a safe place to gather supplies.

"Anthin else wer gon' need why wer out there?" Daryl questioned Rick has he through a few empty bags in the back of their travel car, along with extra blades and ammo for emergencies.

"not at the moment no, try to make it back as quickly and as safely as ya can. Who knows how bad it has gotten out there" Rick had his hands on his hips and was looking out towards the trees. You could tell he was unsure, the question was what was he unsure about.

"A'ight let's roll out!" daryl shouted to Michonne and Ty as he proceeded to get situated in the drivers seat. Then they were gone, disappeared behind the forest of withering trees, as the season was slowly changing to fall.

They had to of been on the road for about 25 minutes before they came to a town they hadn't already ransacked. Parking their car in a hidden yet very accessible spot, the group decided to come up with a game plan.

"I say we stick together, there don' seem to be much goin' on 'round here, but you never know whats'on the inside. Remember we're just here for the medicine and other shit to help these people out, NOTHIN else" Daryl stated firmly as he led the group up to the back of a quaint looking home after everyone got their bags securely fastened to them, and their knifes out their guns at the ready.

Backs against the wall and waiting for his signal, the group quickly and quietly tiptoed towards the front of the house. There were grumbles and growls coming from the other side of the wall they were on, from the sound of it there had to of been at least 3 or 4. Daryl turned his head to Michonne, who was right behind him. He signaled that they be ready to attack the second they turn that corner. He began to count down from 3 on his fingers, with his pre-loaded crossbow ready and aimed forward, he swiftly turned the corner and focused on the first walker he saw. The strange thing about this small group of walkers was that they seemed to be preoccupied with trying to get into the garage directly next to the house.

Considering the fact that Daryl had not shot his arrow yet, the walkers had not noticed three living beings had turned the corner of the house. Daryl chose this moment to sneak the group behind the construction truck that was diagonal from the garage the walkers were so desperately trying to get into.

"they wouln't jus be attackin that place for no reason" daryl said without turning to the group for their opinions. He peaked over the truck, noticing that there were in fact 6 walkers. He shot the closest one to the group, able to be undetected by the other biters. To turned back around and quickly loaded his crossbow. He took a deep breath and turned back around to the walkers, this time he stepped out from behind the truck and shot his arrow, taking down a walker that noticed his movement. Grabbing his knife from his holster he sliced another down the back of the head. With the body of the officially dead woman on the ground, Daryl pulled his knife out of her rotting head and looked around to see Michonne had taken out 2 others, and Ty was on to the last one.

Looking around and making sure that there were not anymore geeks coming towards them, Daryl walked up to the garage door. He grabbed the handle, before turning it he looked at Michonne, who looked at him anxiously, then stared down the handle. Daryl turned the handle, but something on the other side was barricading it.

"Aye' open up if yer alive in there. We ain't gon hurt ya" Daryl called out to the other side of the door. There was no response, but he swore he thought he hear rustling around. He used his shoulder to bang the door open. With all of his weight on one side he slammed into the door, but it barely budged. He did this once again and it gave a little, slightly sliding open. Daryl sucked in air and slammed into the door one last good time, the door flew open, causing whatever it was holding it closed to fall and crash. All three of them stepped inside prepared for there to be a fresh walker on the other side.

There was a girl.


	3. Willow hold on tight

**My last two chapters were pretty short, I noticed that. Hopefully I can get this story rolling. Like I said I haven't written in a long time. So I am a little rusty!**

**Let me know what u think so far.**

**Enjoy :]**

"Please!" she sobbed frantically, clutching the body of an already dead man. "He's dying!" she shook him, as though he was only asleep in her arms.

The girl couldn't have been older than 16. She had blonde, blood stained curly hair. Underneath the redness and tears, was a pair of big brown eyes. Her blue dress with little white flowers was now drenched in the red liquid she was sitting in, sobbing into the chest of the man who had just recently passed. He had a shaved head, probably because of the receding hair line you could tell was there. There was a rather large gruesome chunk taken out of his neck, which was staining his plaid shirt and brown windbreaker vest. You were able to tell he wasn't bitten just once; there were bite marks on his right arm, and what appeared to be a scratch mark on his chest.

"C'mon!" Daryl signaled to the group to get the girl away from the dead man in her arms, who continued to bleed profusely from his wounds. The group rushed over to the pool of blood the girl was still sobbing in. Daryl tried to grab the body from the girls clutches as Michonne tried to pull the girl away from the corpse.

"No!" The blood drenched girl screamed, pulling the body closer to her and locking her arms around him. "Please! We have to help him!" she cried hugging the deceased even closer, if that was possible.

"Listen here little girl, you need to let him go before he turns, do you hear me?!" Michonne yelled as she struggled more to release the girls grasp on the body. This girls grip on the corpse was incredible, as though if she were to let go the entire world would collapse.

"No! No! Please!" she cried, refusing to let go.

"Daryl you need to take him out now before it's too late!" michonne demanded as she tried to wrap her arms around the girls' waist to gain a better grasp on her. Daryl, still trying to get her away from the body looked for a good opportunity to stab the cadaver in the head, preventing him from turning into a biter. The girl, once she heard Michonnes demand, buried the dead man's head into her lap, and covered it with her own, still cradling him in her arms.

"I can't she buried his damn head with hers, let 'em the hell go kid!"

"Walkers headed this way!" Ty chimed in from the door he was guarding as all of this was going on. "About three of them, I can take them out but we don't know how many more are out there and I don't wanna get stuck in this place, you guys gotta hurry!" with that he exited the door to take out the undead that was approaching.

"C'mon kid let em go!"

Suddenly, a grumble came from the head the little girl was covering; she stopped trying to protect him and raised her head.

"Daddy?" she questioned through tears, looking down at the man she was still holding in her arms.

Within a blink of an eye, there was a disgusting, blood gurgling growl. The fresh walker jolted forward, clamping his jaws onto the arm of the girl who was trying to protect him. The walker pulled back as the girl screamed in pain, ripping her flesh from right off her bone. The minute she screamed she released her death grip on the corpse, instantly Daryl pulled him back and put his knife through its head. Michonne still had a hold of the girl, the minute the walker pulled back with the young girls flesh in its teeth, Michonne pulled the girl away from more danger, and without hesitation, separated the girl from her arm, by cutting it off with one swift slice, right below the elbow.

_*Flashback*_

_There was a bad thunderstorm outside. The wind was causing a damp draft to come through the cracks in the windows. Buckets and pans were scattered throughout the house, catching the rain drop that fell from the holes in the roof. Lightening was cracking all around the old beat up trailer. It was about 11:30pm, the dim lights inside the hazardous home were flickering. There was a small 90s style radio sitting on the countertop of the old, out of date, sorry excuse for a kitchen fading in and out of signal as a faint "Mr. .Sandman" was attempting to play. There, on the floor of the dusty and withering living room, was a little 6 year old Riley Dixon, playing with her tattered raggedy Ann and faded wooden building blocks._

_Now if a stranger was to stumble a pon the Dixon trailer, they would think they had just walked onto a set of a southern chainsaw horror movie. This home, if anyone considered it a home, was a complete mess. There were holes in the screens of the door and windows, caused by what were hopefully only moths. The screen door leading inside the house was broken, and would always swing open and close when the wind was blowing hard. The yard looked something like a junk yard would. Dead and torn apart cars scattered randomly with their insides torn out and thrown everywhere. Trash was piled up in different areas. From the look of the outside, one would never expect a 6 year old to live in this house, let alone be able to survive in this type of environment. The mess didn't end here though, the inside was just as bad. There were water stains on the walls and ceilings, mold growing within the cracks of the thin trailer walls. Most of the food in the fridge was spoiled, adding the sick smell of rot to the smell of old beer and cigarettes that the house had already smelled of. Beer cans, liquor bottles, and empty nicotine packs were everywhere. Old t.v. dinner trays lay on tables, gathering small amounts of maggots and flies._

"_What the hell?" the door swung open, and in trudged a soaking wet, 16 year old Daryl Dixon. Noticing his little sister was all alone he set his hunting bag next to the door and made his way over to Riley and picked her up._

"_Where's pops at sweetheart?" he questioned in a caring voice, knowing her mom had left a month prior on some heroine binge. _

"_Iono" Riley responded as she played with the neckless around Daryls neck, not really worried about where her father was. Daryl carried his little sister to the kitchen where he set her down on the counter top next to the radio._

"_Have you eaten N'thing today Ry?" she shook her head no. " well then wer just gon have to change that right now rnt we?"_

_Riley smiled cheesily at him. "Cookies!" she shouted, throwing her arms up in the air as though she has just scored the final touchdown._

"_haha I dun think its gon be cookies darling, how about spaghetti-os?" she agreed and Daryl pulled out an old beat up can of the only meal they could really afford and began to cook as he made small talk with his little sister. _

"_Has pops been here at all?" he questioned, glancing at while continuing to stir her food._

"_Nope!" she said in an upbeat voice, unaware of how awful her living situation is. "Linda stoppeded by, she give-ed me a sucker!" Riley said excitedly as she pulled a sucker from the front pocket of her worn out overalls and showed Daryl her present. He looked over at her only to notice a bruise on her little arm she was holding out. The only way anyone could have a bruise like that on their arm would be if someone had grabbed them and squeezed it._

_Daryl smiled at her half heartedly. He hated his father. To Daryl, his father was the biggest piece of shit in the world. Daryl always avoided coming back to this place, ever since his mom died things with his father only got worse. His mom was alright, she cared behind closed doors, but when it came to disagreeing with his father, she kept her mouth shut and fought back tears as her husband took his anger out on his two boys. Daryl usually stayed in the woods, spending most of his time out hunting while his father wasn't paying attention. Tonight was different, the rain was so bad that it drove Daryl to go back home, that and he wanted to check if Riley was okay. Normally he didn't worry, because when things would get out of hand and his father would be so angry to the point that he would lay his hands on Riley, Her mother would usually drunkenly step in swinging her arms everywhere, usually saying something about "hitting her precious angel" 'Yeah, precious angel you rarely acknowledge'. Daryl thought._

_Rileys mom was no longer here, and no one knew when she would be back. Daryl did not like the thought of Riley only being with their father. Merle was always around, which is why Daryl didn't worry. But this time Merle wasn't here either, he was in jail for stealing a car. _

_Daryl tucked Riley into bed, read her all time favorite story "Hansel and Gretel" and closed the door as she drifted into a much needed sleep._

_Then he waited. He waited for the man he despised the most to come home, and he wasn't going to leave without giving him a piece of his mind. Daryl was heated, enraged. He was in over his head that is for sure, for a 16 year old Daryl was no present day Daryl. He just didn't understand how someone could be that big of a shithead. He didn't understand how someone who is suppose to me a man could harm such a small fragile thing. His own daughter even. Daryl had these thoughts rolling through his head since he put Riley to sleep. His knuckles were turnings white from how hard he was squeezing his fists. Just then the door handle began to jiggle. Daryl just sat there on the stool, staring down at the counter, fists still tight. His drunk father stumbled in, nearly falling face first. _

"_oh, 'ts you. Fuck you doin just sittin there boy, go make yerself useful, ya good for nothing shit" _

_Daryl ignored his comment. "The fuck is wrong with you?" Daryls eyes slowly turned, landing on his father, whos expression was slightly shocked, but quickly changed to completely Furious._

"_the fuck u just say to me boy?" His father stood up straight. Standing directly in front of Daryl._

"_What the fuck is your problem jus leav'n Ri-" before Daryl could finish is sentence came to an abrupt stop when the back of his fathers hand connected with the side of his face._

"_Now you listen here boy, don you EVER speak ta me that damn way again, ya hear me? I'll beat ya down boy, ill beat ya down." His father was right in Daryls face, looking directly into his eyes, well trying to at least. He stood up and walked towards the fridge to grab a beer, the only edible thing in there. Daryls eyes did not follow his father, he continued to stare straight ahead, thoughts of every single time this man had caused pain were racing through his mind. His eyes began to water out of pure anger, able to hold back his tears he took a deep breath and turned his head to his father. Looking toward the door he saw an old wooden plank that had the light of the gods shining down on it, in Daryls mind. He snuck across to it as his father continued to rummage through the fridge. Quickly Daryl grabbed the plank and walked toward his father._

"_Hey scum bag." His father turned to his direction preparing to say something threatening when WHAM! Daryl swung the wood across his fathers face, causing him to stumble to his left. Daryl swung again only on the opposite side, knocking his father to the right. Daryl went to swing again only this time, his father was able to stop the wood from hitting him with his slightly oversized arm, and that's when is fathers fist collided with Daryls face. From then on the wooden plank was his fathers weapon._

_Daryl awoke in the hospital 4 days later to see the face of Rileys Mother; immediately asking why Daryl had to be so stupid, Merle; shaking his head and smirking down at him, and then a little Riley; looking down at the ground quietly, a small little tear rolled from her slightly bruised eye._

_*end flashback.*_

There was a loud silence to the room. As though a bomb had just gone off; your ears are ringing, but you can't hear a thing.

The girl was leaning against the garage wall, screaming. Her surviving hand rapidly fanning her, what was now, a stump. She was going into shock, and loosing blood fast. Michonne moved quickly to find some sort of rag to use to stop her from bleeding out, finding an old cloth tarp that was covering some loose tools, she began to wrap it around the girls bleeding arm.

"I need you to stay with me okay? Can u hear me? Keep breathing" Michonne said quietly to the girl as she hurriedly tied the make shift bandage securely to what was left of the right side of the girls arm up. The girl was in a panic, her breaths were deep and she letting out a weezey cry everything she let a breath in and out. Ty came running back in at the sound of her scream, realizing what had happened, he found wire from a near by shelf and threw it to Michonne so she could secure the bandage better.

"Can you tell us yer name?" Daryl questioned, coming around to the other side of the girl, trying to keep her conscious . He started snapping his fingers in her face, but she didn't blink, she continued to start forward weezing, Daryl followed her gaze to where the walker who had just bitten her arm was. " Yeah, we gotta get er outta here, she won't last like this if we head back, we' gon have to find something to stop the bleeding better and somethin to stop it from goin' bad." Daryl stood up and looked around, he saw a blow torch next to a box underneath a work bench. He rushed to that corner of the garage and picked up the blow torch. As he grabbed it he accidently knocked over the box it was next to. It was as the fate was inside that garage that day because inside the box was a bunch of scrap metal. Daryl decided he would do what Merle had done when he cut his own hand off.

Daryl took a deep breath. "This is gon' hurt."

They were sitting in that garage for a good 30 minutes after the girl had passed out. Michonne was pacing back and forth, glancing sternly every once and a while to the girl, as though she was expecting her to turn into a walker at any second. In all reality she was more worried about Daryl and Ty, who went on the run they had originally came here for; medicine.

The girl moved, turning a little bit more onto her side that wasn't missing a limb. Michonne slowly drew her sword, preparing to take her out just in case she had missed the moment where the girl stopped breathing.

"da-ad… Daddy" a raspy voice came from behind the girls hair that was covering her face. Michonnes face relaxed and she put down her sword. She went to approach the girl to see if she could find out her name, but just as she took her first step Daryl and Ty busted through the door.

"we gotta go." Daryl said and grabbed one of the bags Ty dropped so he could pick up the now unconscious girl. Michonne quickly picked up the other bag and with that they left the garage and rushed to their vehicle. Quickly they sped away from the small town, leaving about 13 walkers to stumble after them, only to get mouths full of dust. The sun was beginning to set, and the streets were growing dark.

"She wake up at all?" Daryl asked after about 15 minutes of driving back home.

"She said daddy. That's it." Michonne answered back, not taking her eyes off the road. There was a groan from the back seat, followed by a whine of a girl who was clearly in great pain.

Ty was sitting in the back seat with the girl, allowing her head to rest in his lap, partially for her comfort, but mostly so he can have an easy opening in case she turns. Pulling her hair out of her face he said in a comforting manner.

"shhh, don't worry about a thing princess, we're gonna get you better help as soon as we get to our camp."


End file.
